Afraid of a coup, Putin is called to retire this year and appoint his successor

MOSCOW – President Russia Vladimir Putin it is said he will name a successor this year rather than risk being ousted as his popularity continues to decline amid a series of defeats in Ukraine.

The claim was made by his former ally Abbas Gallyamov.

The former speech writer for Putin said Russia’s number one would seek to hand over power to his chosen successor and retire to a Black Sea “palace” rather than risk the humiliating fate of an overthrown tyrant like Muammar Gaddafi.

“Russia’s leadership will seek to hand over power to a successor of technocrats who can negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine and the West, and maybe not fight the 2024 election,” he told Khodorkovsky Live’s YouTube channel. Daily MailSaturday (14/1/2023).

According to Gallyamov, Putin’s circle no longer sees him as a guarantor of stability and are worried about the emergence of Yevgeny Prigozhin who has so far been loyal to the Kremlin but can stand up to an elite deemed a failure in the war.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is the head of the well-armed Russian mercenary Wagner Group.

They fear being slaughtered with the Prigozhin sledgehammer – an extrajudicial punishment given to convict soldiers who refuse to fight or attempt to defect to Ukraine.

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One of the former Wagner Group mercenaries who switched sides in the Ukraine war, Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, had his head pinned to a brick wall and beaten to death with a sledgehammer last November when he was arrested by former comrades.

Prigozhin praised the execution of the defector and said that ‘a dog accepts a dog’s death’ in response to a video of Nuzhin being bludgeoned to death.